Discovering how nonprofits can work together to move the needle on social issues

Collective Impact and Networks for Education Reform

This Army-Research Office funded project examines how to organize multiple organizations in a community in order to achieve the best results. In this ambitious 3-year project, we are comparing 14-pairs of communities (matched based on demographics and size within state). One community in each pair is using a formal, centralized form of collaborating called collective impact to improve educational outcomes in their community. The other community is using a more informal form of collaborating. Using an inherently mixed method approach, this study is poised to answer questions like:

Does the form of coalition governance influence the types of relationships organizations have with one another?

How does information diffuse differently in more formal versus informal interorganizational networks?

Does collective impact produce more positive results for organizations, networks, and communities than more informal approaches to education reform?